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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Lewis Cauble <lewis AT hivebody.com>
  • Cc: Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Another Question for Abbee
  • Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:32:07 -0500

Dear Sleepless,

I wonder if maybe you misunderstood the instructions at OCBA's wax-working class in the fall? The wax is supposed to go into the mold ---, the mold shouldn't be on the wax.

Mold isn't your friend but it isn't your enemy either. A strong hive will clean up without any help from you, no problem. If you don't like the look of it, you can put the frame where it gets light and air before you put the frame back in a hive and the mold will die back.

The mold is a symptom of another situation you have: too much trapped moisture. Moisture can be a bee-killer, especially in winter. Instead of making your hive air-tight, celebrate the cracks and openings that most hives naturally have. Some folks deliberately create a little open space at the top to encourage evaporation. All things can be overdone, but good air flow is important for good bee health.

By the way, thanks for the great photo. Pictures make assessment of issues much easier than just words.

Randall Austin

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 8:00 PM, Lewis Cauble <lewis AT hivebody.com> wrote:
Dear Abbee,
My bee buddy "Arthur" (not his real name) and I were inspecting hives in my apiary yesterday.  We began inspecting a strong colony and the first frame we pulled had this blue moldy stuff on it.  In fact, the first 3 empty frames we pulled had this on them.  As we continued our inspection we began to pull frames with bees on them and those frames seemed fine.  Is this blue mold abbee normal? They told us about many different products of the hive in bee school but I do not believe they mentioned anything about penicillin.

I closed down my colonies pretty tight in the fall to keep the cold out by closing the screened bottom boards, removing the inner cover (it has a big hole in it!), and putting my entrance reducer on.  How in the world did this get in to my colony?  Should I call the Haz-Mat team to come pick up and dispose of my colony?

Please find enclosed a photo of the frame in question.

Sincerely,

Sleepless in Cedar Grove





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